Iranian Downing of "Hacked" Ukrainian Passenger Plane: No Arrests Made

No arrests have been made pertaining to Iranian military's shooting down of "hacked" Ukrainian passenger plane on January 8, an incident that killed all 176 persons onboard.

"The Ukrainian jetliner was in Israel a week before the attacks, where its security system was hacked and intercepted. The flight of the plane was very suspicious," Hassan Noroozi, an Iranian lawmaker and spokesman for the parliamentary judicial committee, was quoted as saying by Hamdali daily on Sunday.

"Special facilities in Iran were the targets of the plane. Given that the plane was controlled by other countries, our military did a good job," Noroozi claimed.

"The plane was under American control. Given the evidence, it would be pointless to arrest those involved in the crash," he said.

US killing of Iranian top general Qasem Soleimani in January took the two countries to the brink of a full-blown war. To avenge Soleimani's assassination, Iran launched a retaliatory missile attack on US airbases in Iraq on January 8 around 1.30am. Five hours later, the Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) flight, PS752, crashed near Tehran minutes after take-off. The US and its allies soon pointed fingers at Iran, blaming the country for accidentally bringing down the jetliner. After fervently denying those allegations, Iran owned up to its "unforgivable mistake" three days later.